Binns Brightening
by KristieConspiracy
Summary: Just what is it, exactly, that makes Professor Cuthbert Binns so very dull? Written for Fire the Canons' Character of the Week Drabble Competition, week 5: Cuthbert Binns.
1. Advice of the Father

**Challenge: **Fire the Canon's _Character of the Week Drabble Competition (week 5) _ on HPFC; Cheeky Slytherin Lass' _Fanfiction Scavenger Hunt Competition_ on HPFC.

**Character: **Cuthbert Binns, OC (father - Wyatt Binns)

**Prompt: **Familial relationshipl; 23. _A childhood fic_

**Word count: **200

**A/N: **Wyatt is Cuthberts' (Professor Binns) father. His mother is unnamed, died when he was young.

* * *

Wyatt Binns died two weeks after his son graduated from Hogwarts. The old wizard had been a genius, the only family that Cuthbert had ever known. His mother had died so long ago, he now had nothing but a vague impression of eyes as dark as his own.

That was how the seventeen-year-old Cuthbert Binns came to be alone. Wyatt had not been young, and Cuthbert knew that he'd lived a full life. It was with content resignation that he recalled a conversation he'd had with the older man, having just gotten into trouble for the first time ever.

"Did you offer to fix the window?" Wyatt, old even then, asked.

"Yes," Cuthbert sniffed.

"And what did she say?"

"She said - she said to go home."

"So you did offer."

"Yes, but - "

"Son, let me give you some advice about helping people. You offered her your help, which is really all you can do. You owe her a favour, as you inconvenienced her, but otherwise that's fine. The important thing is that you remain willing to be inconvenienced, to help others. It's character building."

Standing at his graveside years later, Cuthbert knew he'd never forget the advice.


	2. First Time in History

**Challenge: **Fire the Canon's _Character of the Week Drabble Competition (week 5)_ on HPFC; Cheeky Slytherin Lass' _Fanfiction Scavenger Hunt Competition_ on HPFC.

**Characters: **Cuthbert Binns, OC (Priscilla Grant)

**Prompt: **Romantic relationship; 39. _A fic about a first date_

**Word count: **200

* * *

He held his breath, nervous and fidgety in a manner completely alien to him. _This better not fail_, he prayed to no one: he didn't believe in any God.

Her hair caught the light from the stained-glass window at the front of the store. It sparkled with shades of red and yellow and green, and he wondered if anything at all could be more beautiful.

She was tall, elegant and confident and the complete opposite of him, his hunchback further emphasising the fact that he was vertically challenged. He was in the last year of a degree in magical history, she was two years away from her inheritance.

And yet, and yet, and yet. It was _him_ that Priscilla Grant had agreed to let take her on a date!

Still waiting, still holding his breath, he was certain he wanted to know how she reacted. He had never tried this _dating thing_ before, he didn't know if he'd done it right.

"Usually people don't take people to old bookstores for a first date."

He swallowed. "I thought we'd be best starting from common ground: books."

She smiled, and it was like a searchlight, bright in the dim shop. "It's perfect."


	3. Beauty Born of Pain

**Challenges: **Fire the Canon's _Character of the Week Drabble Competition (week 5)_ on HPFC; Cheeky Slytherin Lass' _Fanfiction Scavenger Hunt Competition_ on HPFC.

**Characters: **Cuthbert Binns, OC (Priscilla Binns nee Grant, Ivory Binns)

**Prompt: **Must be written in first person; 16. _A drabble under 200 words using the prompts restless, golden and snow._

**Word count: **199

* * *

I was restless, pacing back and forth like a madman trying to wear a hole in the carpet. What was taking so long? It was a baby, not an essay on the 1783 Centaur wars! Surely something bad was happening?

I couldn't take the idea of Priscilla no longer being golden and alive. I knew it'd ruin me if she died; I wasn't the sort to let my own weaknesses go unknown. Death had always terrified me, and right then, the idea of _her_ dying was even worse.

I knew that St Mungos wasn't likely to let her die in childbirth, but it was winter and snow was falling and honestly, the diseases that manifested in hospitals were beyond count. Unfortunately, I knew the statistics.

I didn't want to lose her.

"Mister Binns? You can see them both now."

I almost tripped over myself in my haste to enter the room. I sought out Priscilla first, not trusting the healer.

"Look at her, 'Bert, our daughter." Only then did I notice the little pink-wrapped bundle in her arms. I obeyed, slowly, heart in my throat.

I was wrong: Priscilla wasn't the most beautiful thing in the world.

Ivory was.


	4. Loss of those Valued

**Challenge:** Fire the Canon's _Character of the Week Drabble Competition (week 5)_ on HPFC

**Characters:** Cuthbert Binns, OC (Priscilla Binns nee Grant, Ivory Binns, Crescida Binns)

**Prompt:** Baseball

**Word count: **200

* * *

He never would have guessed that baseball would be his death.

Oh, it wasn't _his_ death, not in the traditional sense of the word. No, Cuthbert Binns' pulse would stop years later. What _metaphorically_ killed him was his late wifes' obsession with baseball.

Priscilla was a muggle-born whom he had ignored in school and simply _clicked_ with later. Perhaps she had an obsession with her muggle fathers' former sport. What of it?

He found out exactly what in 1939.

"The girls and I are taking an aeroplane," she told him, smiling. "They can go across oceans now, and they fit so many people!"

He had worried, of course. Perhaps he was more fun back then, but he was also extremely cautious. "A giant metal bird?"

"Oh, it'll be fine, 'Bert." She kissed him on the cheek and went to bed.

Two weeks later, he was starting his position teaching History of Magic when Professor Dumbledore sent him to some muggle office. He approached the inhabitant warily.

"Mister Binns?"

"Yes?"

"Husband of Priscilla Binns, father of Ivory and Crescida?"

"Yes."

"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you..."

That day, baseball killed Cuthbert Binns.

He couldn't bring himself to care.


	5. Hogwarts: A (Short) History

**Challenges: **Fire the Canon's _Character of the Week Drabble Competition (week 5)_ on HPFC

**Characters: **Cuthbert Binns, James Potter

**Prompt: **Hogwarts

**Word count: **200

**A/N: **For the sake of this, I'm going to say Binns dies in 1977, the Marauders seventh year, while James and Lily are the Heads.

* * *

There is an ancient castle in Scotland. It stands proudly on the edge of a forest filled with magical _things_.

Within this castle, hundreds of witches and wizards find their home. These are divided into students and staff, each uniquely gifted in their own right.

Professor Cuthbert Binns teaches History of Magic in this castle. He is an expert in the field, has been for as long as everyone can remember, which is approximately equal to how long he has been teaching there. None recall that he once mourned losses that could never be compensated for.

When he dies, he slips away unnoticed. After all, it is not uncommon for him to sleep for days, uninterrupted except to teach deliberately dull classes that the students dread

It's a full week before anyone even thinks to point out that, hey, he doesn't seem quite solid, and is that a ghost?

" Professor Binns is brilliant," James Potter, Head Boy, says to his girlfriend. "He gave me a chocolate frog card in fourth year, you know, said I was his favourite."

Professor Binns doesn't remember doing this. He barely remembers living.

After all, it's been some time since he considered himself _alive_.


End file.
